“Call to the path of thy Lord with wisdom and goodly exhortation, and argue with people in the best manner.” (Holy Quran, 16:125) The Light AND ISLAMIC REVIEW Exponent of Islam and the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement for over eighty years July – September 2004

In the spirit of the above-cited verse, this periodical attempts to dispel misunderstandings about the religion of Islam and endeavors to facilitate inter-faith dialogue based on reason and rationality.

Vol. 81 CONTENTS No. 3

The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement and the Reform of Albanian Islam in the Inter-War Period ...... 3 By Nathalie Clayer

Dowie: A sign to America and the World (Part 2) ...... 12 By Muhammad Sadiq, Columbus Ohio

Truth Unveiled: a response to the book ‘Unveiling Islam’ by Ergun Mehmet Caner and Emir Fethi Caner ...... 15 Compiled by Directors of AAIIL, Inc. USA

Published on the World-Wide Web at: www.muslim.org

◆ Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Islam Lahore Inc., U.S.A. ◆ P.O. Box 3370, Dublin, Ohio 43016, U.S.A. 2 THE LIGHT ■ JULY – SEPTEMBER 2004

The Light was founded in 1921 as the organ of the AHMADIYYA ANJUMAN ISHA‘AT ISLAM (Ahmadiyya Association for the Propagation of Islam) of About ourselves Lahore, Pakistan. The Islamic Review was published in England from 1913 for over 50 years, and in the U.S.A. from 1980 Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Islam Lahore to 1991. The present periodical represents the beliefs of the worldwide has branches in many countries including: branches of the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Islam, Lahore. U.S.A. Australia ISSN: 1060–4596 U.K. Canada Holland Fiji Editorial Board: Directors of AAIIL, Inc., USA Indonesia Germany Suriname India Circulation: Mrs. Samina Malik. Trinidad South Africa Guyana Contact information: ‘The Light’, P.O. Box 3370, Dublin, Ohio 43016, U.S.A. Achievements: Phone: 614 – 873 1030 • Fax: 614 – 873 1022 The Anjuman has produced extensive literature on Islam, originally in English and E-mails: [email protected] • [email protected] Urdu, including translations of the Website: www.muslim.org Holy Quran with commentaries. These books are being translated into other languages, including French, German, Spanish, Dutch, The main object of the A.A.I.I.L. is to present the true, original message of Russian, Chinese, and Arabic. The Anjuman Islam to the whole world — Islam as it is found in the Holy Quran and the has run several Muslim missions around the life of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, obscured today by grave misconcep- world, including the first ever in Western tions and wrong popular notions. Europe. Islam seeks to attract the hearts and minds of people towards the truth, by means of reasoning and the natural beauty of its principles. History: Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (d. 1908), our Founder, arose to remind the 1889: Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad founds world that Islam is: the Ahmadiyya Movement. 1901: Movement given name Ahmadiyya International: It recognizes prophets being raised among all nations after Holy Prophet Muhammad’s other and requires Muslims to believe in them all. Truth and goodness famous name Ahmad. can be found in all religions. God treats all human beings equally, regardless of race, nationality or religion. 1905: Hazrat Mirza appoints central body (Anjuman) to manage the Movement. Peaceful: Allows use of force only in unavoidable self-defence. 1908: Death of Hazrat Mirza. Succeeded by Teaches Muslims to live peacefully under any rule which accords Maulana Nur-ud-Din as Head. them freedom of religion. 1914: Death of Maulana Nur-ud-Din. Tolerant: Gives full freedom to everyone to hold and practise any Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Islam creed or religion. Requires us to tolerate differences of belief and founded at Lahore as continuation of the opinion. original Anjuman. Maulana Muhammad Ali elected as Head. Rational: In all matters, it urges use of human reason and knowledge. Blind following is condemned and independence of thought is 1951: Death of Maulana Muhammad Ali granted. after fifty years of glorious service to the cause of Islam. Maulana Sadr-ud-Din Inspiring: Worship is not a ritual, but provides living contact with a (d. 1981) becomes Head. Living God, Who answers prayers and speaks to His righteous ser- 1981–1996: vants even today as in the past. Dr Saeed Ahmad Khan, an emi- nent medical doctor and religious schol- Non-sectarian: Every person professing Islam by the words La ilaha ar, led the Movement, at a time of ill-Allah, Muhammad-ur rasul-ullah (There is no god but Allah, intense persecution. and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah) is a Muslim. A Muslim 1996–2002: Prof. Dr Asghar Hameed, a cannot be expelled from Islam by anyone. distinguished retired University Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad taught that no prophet, old or new, is to arise Professor of Mathematics, and learned Islamic scholar, served as Head. after the Holy Prophet Muhammad. However, Mujaddids will be raised by God to revive and rekindle the light of Islam. 2002: Prof. Dr Abdul Karim Saeed Pasha elected Head. JULY – SEPTEMBER 2004 ■ THE LIGHT 3

The Lahore Ahmadiyya Albania could not do otherwise than be a target of choice for a Muslim missionary organisation such as the Lahore Movement and the Reform branch of the Ahmadi movement, active in Europe since of Albanian Islam in the 1912. In 1927, when the representatives of the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha’at al-Islam made contact with the Albanian Inter-War Period Islamic Community, they had, indeed, already successful- ly established a mission at Woking, south of London, some By Nathalie Clayer fifteen years previously. Moreover, they had just estab- [This article is an English translation of a paper appear- lished another mission in Berlin.4 It was on the strength of ing in French in 2004 under the title (when translated): this infrastructure and of their publications in English and “The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement and the Reform of German that the Assistant Secretary of the organisation, Albanian Islam in the Inter-War Period”. The author of the Muhammad Manzur Ilahi, entered into correspondence article, Dr. Nathalie Clayer, has approved this translation, with the leaders of Albanian Islam and sent them some of by Selim Ahmed of UK, and granted permission for its pub- the Lahori Ahmadi network’s productions.5 Part of the first lication here.] exchanges of letters between Lahore and Tirana was pub- In 1927, after seven years of freshly acquired independ- lished in 1927 in the Albanian Muslim Community’s jour- ence, Albania began to stabilise and undergo political nal Zani i naltë (The Supreme Voice). The two letters of reform.1 The ‘umbilical cord’ that used to bind the Islamic Muhammad Manzur Ilahi thus published are quite illumi- Community of this small Balkan country2 with a Muslim nating as to the way in which the Lahore Ahmadiyya majority to Istanbul was at that time once and for all sev- Movement tried to attract the Albanian Muslim leaders and ered. On the one hand, the setting up of national religious as to its intention in making this approach. structures in 1923, on the other the abolition of the The first letter is quite short. Through its missionary Caliphate and the suppression of the medrese’s [Medrese is activities in Europe, the Anjuman wishes to demonstrate the Turkish form of the Arabic madrasah — Translator.] that it is the promoter of a progressive Islam that “is to in Turkey in 1924, as well as the closing of the tekke’s bring salvation from destruction by the forces of material- [Dervish lodges (Turkish, from Arabic) — Translator.] the ism”. It wishes to encourage and assist the Albanian following year, brought to an end the organic links that Muslims, “surrounded by enemies on all sides”, to advance were in existence from a religious point of view between themselves spiritually in order to surpass these “enemies”. this former province of the Ottoman Empire and the centre It suggests, therefore, that they read Ahmadi literature and on which it depended. It was at that point that the leaders set the Albanian people on “the sure path to progress”.6 In of this Islamic Community received a letter from the the second letter, the Assistant Secretary of the Anjuman ‘Muslim Community of India’. The latter introduced itself more specifically requests the leadership of the Albanian as having missions in England, Germany, America and Islamic Community to translate the English translation of Africa, as having already converted “over a hundred the Koran,7 of which he has sent a copy, and this for “the English people” and “about a hundred Germans” and hav- spiritual, moral and material advancement of the Albanian ing built mosques in England and Germany: an Islamic people”. The argument put forward by Muhammad community which seems, therefore, to display a mission- Manzur Ilahi is that this translation lies behind a new spir- ary dynamism in the very heart of Europe. it in the Muslim world, particularly among young educat- In the following years, a relationship would be estab- ed Muslims, likewise an expansion of Islam in Europe. lished between the Albanian Islamic Community and this Indeed, the Islam offered to the Albanian Muslim leaders ‘Muslim Community of India’, or more exactly of Lahore, has three main characteristics. It has made it possible to in this case the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha’at al-Islam respond to attacks from the enemies of Islam and above all (‘Ahmadiyya Association for the Propagation of Islam).3 from Christians. It can win over Europe and the Christians What form did these connections take and why this influ- thanks to its spiritual power, a power that will put an end ence on the part of an Indian missionary organisation both to the political and to the economic confusions of the among the Albanian Muslims in the Inter-War Period? It is Muslim world. Lastly, this is a reformist Islam, adapted to questions such as these that this article will attempt to modernity, which takes its stand on the Koran and seeks address. after the purity of the Prophet’s day, setting aside the inter- pretations of the classical fakih (specialists in Muslim From Lahore to Tirana: propagating an Islam for the law), which are too much a product of their own time. This spiritual conquest of Europe Islam, based on a comprehensible Koran, must be united, The only European country with a Muslim majority, liberal and perfect.8 4 THE LIGHT ■ JULY – SEPTEMBER 2004

The last part of Muhammad Manzur Ilahi’s letter From 1927, the date of the Lahoris’ first contacts with reveals the manner in which the members of the Anjuman Albania, up until the annexation of the country by fascist intended to operate at that time in South-Eastern Europe. Italy in 1939, numerous articles appearing in the organ of Since Albania was a country with a Muslim majority and the Albanian Islamic Community were translations or there was an Islamic Community there, they were not think- adapted translations of texts taken from Lahori Ahmadi ing of sending a mission, but of using this organisation as an periodicals and books. From 1927 to 1929, they were as intermediary, when asking its members to translate their yet relatively few in number. But from 1930 onwards, works into the local language. Specifically, it had to be a nearly all the issues of Zani i naltë included at least one local intermediary not only in relation to the Albanian contribution drawn, in the first instance, from the journal Muslims but also in relation to “neighbouring countries and The Light of Lahore, but also from other Lahori Ahmadi Christians”. Two features show that, in 1927, the Lahori periodicals: Moslemische Revue from Berlin, The Islamic Ahmadis were considering the Albanian Muslim Review from Woking and Young Islam.13 To these texts a Community almost as a future Balkan branch of their mis- number of others are to be added, prepared on the basis of sionary movement. Muhammad Manzur Ilahi, was, indeed, translations of passages from particular Lahori Ahmadi recommending unrealistically to the Albanian Muslim lead- works, such as the books by Khwaja Kamaluddin, founder ers that they should follow their system for raising money: a of the Woking Ahmadi mission (Table Talk, al-Islam or 14 system for the voluntary payment of a portion of their mem- The Threshold of Truth). bers’ income, with the members promising to “uphold reli- Aside from these journal articles, the Albanian Islamic gion in the world” and to sacrifice their wealth and their Community also published during 1927–1939 the transla- time for Islam. Furthermore, since the reform had to come tions of a booklet and a book by Muhammad Ali, the about through the distribution of literature, he was urging Anjuman’s spiritual head, and of a booklet by Khwaja the Albanian Islamic Community to translate the Anjuman’s Kamaluddin.15 Lastly, four issues of a small journal books prepared in English and German, which he had sent describing itself as the Albanian-language supplement of 9 to this end, and to distribute them free of charge. the Lahore journal The Light appeared in 1936, thereby What was the outcome of this? In 1945, there was offering the Albanian public still further access — direct or 16 some talk of putting a young student of the Medrese of indirect — to the Anjuman’s works. Tirana, Ismail Muçej, in charge of an ‘agency’ which the What was the subject matter of these texts drawn from 10 Anjuman was considering opening in Albania. The or inspired by the Lahori Ahmadi corpus? We can distin- imposition of the communist regime did not allow it, and guish four major categories. Many are concerned with the the Albanian Islamic Community never became a branch Muslim faith in general, with the personality of the of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement, or its intermediary Prophet and with the Holy Book of Islam, the Koran, from in the Balkans, in the proper sense of the term. And yet it a reformist perspective. Others deal with the role of Islam was ‘integrated’ — admittedly very loosely — into the in modern society. On this topic, two themes crop up most Lahori network because it regularly used to receive a vari- frequently: the condition of women and Islam’s freedom ety of publications that came from Lahore and from the from incompatibility with science, education and progress. organisation’s different missions (in England, Germany, Women do not have to be veiled. They should receive Austria, the United States, etc). It was likewise visited by schooling. Islam does not forbid photography, the Koran certain members of the network such as, in 1935, Baron may be broadcast over the radio, and Muslims need to be Omar Rolf von Ehrenfels — an Austrian anthropologist educated. A third group consists of texts aiming to reassert who converted to Islam11 — who published his impres- the value of Islam in relation to the West and Christianity. sions of the trip in the Lahore journal The Light.12 Above In these, an appeal is made to the greatness of the Muslim all, up until the end of the Second World War, some world during the Middle Ages, to the superiority of Albanian Muslims were very much influenced by the Muslim Spain compared with a barbarous West, or else to Anjuman’s teachings. brotherhood in Islam. Positive appreciations of Islam by Christians and other non-Muslims are adduced, and above From Tirana to Lahore: from translating texts to send- all the conversion of Europeans. Islam’s worldwide numer- ing students ical strength is underscored by way of statistical tables, The Ahmadiyya Anjuman’s influence on the Albanian and more precise facts are given about the Islamic commu- Islamic Community is chiefly detectable in two ways: on nities of Europe, Japan and America. To this group should the one hand by the translation into Albanian of numerous be added texts that reassert the value not only of Islam, but texts of Lahori Ahmadi production and, on the other, by the also of religion in general, in opposition to materialism and fact that students were sent to Lahore. atheism. Lastly, the fourth category is that of the texts that JULY – SEPTEMBER 2004 ■ THE LIGHT 5 more specifically concern the Ahmadiyya Movement, its Following the annexation of the country by Italy, Zani missions and their activities, with the emphasis on the i naltë was replaced by the journal Kultura islame (Islamic expansion of Islam in Europe. Culture). The Italian occupation seems to have led the pub- lishers of the new organ of the Islamic Community to dis- In order to gauge the Anjuman’s influence, it is also continue making direct references to Ahmadi journals or at interesting to enquire into the translators of these texts. For any rate to discontinue offering plain translations made by that, it is necessary to draw a distinction between two peri- the students of the Medrese.25 Yet the influence of the ods. Between 1927 and 1931, the Ahmadi texts are trans- Anjuman did not disappear, since, alongside the transla- lated by two people in the main: the Administrative tions of the Egyptian modernist authors who made their Director and lecturer at the Medrese of Tirana, Junus appearance at that time,26 translations of articles or Bulej,17 who generally translated from German and, from extracts from Ahmadi books are still to be found in Kultura 1929 onwards, the young Professor of Mathematics and islame, as well as references to Muhammad Ali and his Chemistry at the American Technical College in Tirana, disciples. Besides, a letter from the Honorary Secretary of Omer (or Ymer) M. Sharra,18 who translated from the Anjuman, Aziz Bakhsh, is published in the issue for English.19 No ulema were involved, therefore. One can September–October 1940. The latter fact definitely indi- assume that they had been more or less appointed to trans- cates that the correspondence that the Albanian Islamic late the Ahmadi texts by members of the leadership of the Community had maintained with the Lahore Ahmadiyya Islamic Community. But, being a teacher at the Medrese, Movement was still continuing.27 The Ahmadi corpus also Junus Bulej seems to have had his imitators among the stu- becomes more in evidence again in 1943–1944, after the dents, all the more so as it became, in the 1930’s, part of Italian occupation had ended, when the ensuing German the education of the religious authorities-to-be trained in occupation seems to have allowed more freedom to the that establishment to use and to translate Ahmadi litera- leaders of Albanian Islam. Some students of the Medrese, ture. such as Ismail Muçej, also went back to publishing articles Following the 1929 Congress, the Albanian Islamic based on material provided by the Anjuman.28 In 1944, the Community and its institutions were indeed reformed, par- Islamic Community even republished a series of religious ticularly the Medrese of Tirana, which became the sole books, one of these being the translation of the booklet by establishment for Muslim religious education in the coun- Muhammad Ali on the life of the Prophet. try, under the name ‘Medrese General’ (Medrese e The continuation of Ahmadi influence in the Albanian përgjithshme). As for the journal Zani i naltë, after two Islamic Community’s publications is not surprising, inas- long interruptions of seven and nine months in 1929 and much as the managing editor of Kultura islame, Sadik 1930–1931 due to the reorganisation of the Community Bega, was a young graduate of the Medrese who, in his and a new law on the press, it also took on a new appear- time, had himself translated articles from Ahmadi journals. ance, with a new editor, Haki Sharofi, in charge. In addi- Above all, the journal’s editor, Sherif Putra, also a gradu- tion, it was decided to allow the Medrese’s students to ate of the Medrese and author of a very large number of express themselves through it “in order to convey to pub- translations of Ahmadi texts, was a former scholarship lic opinion some idea of the way in which future Muslim holder of the Anjuman in Lahore.29 religious professionals were being educated”.20 Now the greater part of the articles supplied from then on by the stu- For the propagation of Islam in its Lahori Ahmadiyya dents were translations of texts taken from Ahmadi period- interpretation was not limited to passing on its literary pro- icals. It should be stressed here that, in the Medrese ductions in the Albanian language. The attraction of the General’s new curriculum, English had replaced French, a Anjuman was strong enough also to prompt several young western foreign language taught at the Medrese of Tirana Albanian Muslims to go and undertake advanced theolog- prior to 1929.21 This change is no coincidence. It was due ical studies in India. According to the reports of the to the desire on the part of the Muslim Community’s lead- Director of the Medrese, the Anjuman had offered scholar- ers to give their future functionaries a chance to have ships and young Albanians wanted to take advantage of access to a body of work like that of the Anjuman.22 In them. This happened first of all with two out of the ten first 1932, five students from the Medrese trained in translation graduates of the Medrese, Sherif Putra and Ejup Fazli and in this way supplied the organ of the Islamic Kraja, who had started working for the Islamic Community with texts. By 1939 there were over fifteen of Community on leaving the Medrese in October 1932. After them,23 amongst whom was Hasan Selami, who, after many difficulties, due in particular to having to meet their graduating in 1935, ran the English classes at the Medrese travel expenses, for which no provision had been made for several years before leaving to pursue his studies in either by the Anjuman or by the Albanian Islamic Cairo.24 Community, they finally got under way for the Indies at the 6 THE LIGHT ■ JULY – SEPTEMBER 2004 end of the year 1934. They were joined by Halil Junus institutions was getting underway in Albania. At the centre Repishti, scion of a well-known family of traders and of this discussion, which covered the pages of the ulema from Shkodra. It should be noted that the latter had Community’s publication, was Salih Vuçitern, Director not studied at the Medrese of Tirana, but in the religious General of Vakfs (the Islamic Community’s properties in establishments of his native city. Ahmadi influence had mortmain).36 Very close to President Ahmed Zogu, back succeeded, then, in emerging to some degree from the con- in position again as Head of State since the end of the year text of the Medrese e Përgjithshme.30 Finally, three other 1924, and true intermediary between the political authori- graduates of the Medrese left for the Indies in 1935. Yet it ties and the Islamic Community, Salih Vuçitern made an seems they never arrived. Reaching Cairo, one stage on appeal at that time directed towards the “need for reform”. their long voyage, they would have been prevented from In it, he was suggesting a reorganisation of the vakfs, the carrying on.31 closure of unnecessary mosques, the suppression of the regional medrese’s and their replacement by two boarding As a result, Lahore only received, all told, three schools, at Shkodra and at Tirana, where a modern reli- Albanian students. They took courses there notably in gious education would be provided. He was motivated in Arabic, the history of Islam, hadith, English and Urdu. this by the fact that the Albanian Muslims were “surround- Ejup Kraja, in particular, entered the University of the ed on all sides by cultured peoples” and that the only Punjab, [This is the University of the Punjab, Lahore, now means of survival, under these conditions, was to raise the in Pakistan — Translator.] where, in 1937, he took cours- standards of Albanian society.37 Of course, this move es in the ‘Arts and Philosophy’ department. In 1936, all should be placed in the wider context of the politics of the three of them published the aforementioned Albanian-lan- reforms carried out by Ahmed Zogu, all the more so as guage supplement of the journal The Light,which ceased Salih Vuçitern, an admirer, moreover, of Atatürk, was one publication after four issues for lack of resources. Housed, of his close advisers. This policy led notably to the intro- fed and clothed by the Anjuman,which also used to pro- duction of the civil code in 1928, the reorganisation of reli- vide them with the books it published, Sherif Putra and his gious Communities in 1929, with the aim of state control, two friends seem, in spite of everything, to have had a and the abolition of wearing the veil in 1937. great deal of trouble getting hold of other books and main- taining a decent standard of living in Lahore. In order to The aid that the Anjuman offered for the purpose of help them, the Albanian Islamic Community made several “the spiritual advancement of Albanian Muslims”, of set- appeals for funds.32 We do not know whether or not these ting them on “the road to progress”, and of causing them to difficult conditions underlay the return of the three stu- “surpass their enemies” corresponded exactly, then, to the dents to Albania after having spent three years in the process that Salih Vuçitern wanted to set in motion. Is it any Indies. On the 1st of March 1939, Halil Repishti and Ejup wonder, then, that it was he who, in 1928, only one year, Kraja were, indeed, repatriated.33 In fact, both of them therefore, after the first contacts with the Ahmadiyya quickly set off again for Egypt, since in October 1939 they Movement, made an appeal for funds in each prefecture in were excluded from al-Azhar on account of their Ahmadi order to publish a number of books and distribute them free beliefs.34 In 1940, when they were studying at the of charge, including Muhammed — Our Prophet by American University in Cairo and were given a grant by Muhammad Ali, adopting, therefore, an approach close to the Albanian Islamic Community, they published in an the one suggested by the Assistant Secretary of the Egyptian newspaper a declaration in which they acknowl- Anjuman?38 Three years later, when the book by edged their mistake and the deviance of Ahmadi doc- Muhammad Ali came out, a member of the Islamic trines.35 As for Sherif Putra, he also went back to Albania, Community was confirming that this translation had been at the latest during 1939, since in September he became made on the initiative of Salih Vuçitern, with his desire for editor there of the Islamic Community’s new publication. reform, “in order to rescue the Albanian Muslims from the swamps of age-old apathy in which they are immersed”, in The search for a ‘modern’, ‘European’ Islam and its order to “advance them from the religious point of view and limitations from the national point of view by means of culture”. Isa Why did the leaders of Albanian Islam and the young exec- Domni added, in a spirit probably quite close to Salih utives whom they had begun to educate turn towards Vuçitern’s: “To set up a medrese in every corner of Albania, Lahore and the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha’at al-Islam? Let to build mosques everywhere achieves nothing and can be us go back over the Albanian situation in order to under- of no use without culturally shaping the intellect and trans- stand these links forged with an Indian Islam. When, in forming the spirit of Muslims by means of good advice, a 1927, the Anjuman made contact with the Albanian Islamic good education, and with the help of high-quality literature, Community, a debate over the reform of Islam and Islamic written or translated according to need”.39 JULY – SEPTEMBER 2004 ■ THE LIGHT 7

The Islam of the Ahmadiyya Anjuman corresponded, Ottoman Empire. Since 1925, provision had been made for then, to this Islam compatible with modernity, science and sending young people to al-Azhar.44 In 1940, they rationality of which Salih Vuçitern and some of his col- amounted to about twenty students in Cairo from leagues were in search. This was actually an Islam advo- Albania.45 The contacts established with the Ahmadiyya cated by several reformist groups of the Muslim world of Movement offered an alternative to the Egyptian capital the time.40 What probably also attracted the Albanian that was credible enough, it appears, during the first half of Muslim leaders in the Lahori Ahmadi arguments was, par- the 1930’s, before the second contingent of students was adoxically, the European side of this missionary movement stopped at Cairo. — not its Indian side. One of the central ingredients in This latter incident and the relatively insignificant Albanian nation building had been, since the final years of number of students who did indeed pursue their studies in Ottoman rule, the building of a ‘European’ Albanian Lahore should lead us to wonder about the actual influence Muslim identity, as opposed to an ‘Asian’ Turkish Muslim of the Anjuman in Albania. The Lahore Ahmadiyya identity, in order to legitimise the wish of Albanian Movement exercised a direct influence on three main cir- Muslims not to emigrate to Anatolia in the event of the cles: the leaders of Albanian Islam who, like Salih Empire’s demise. What is more, as in the other Balkan Vuçitern, were part of the reformist current; all or some of countries, modernisation was synonymous with de- the students of the Medrese of Tirana, enthusiastic readers ottomanisation and europeanisation. Since the country had and translators of the literary output of the Anjuman’s net- a Muslim majority, Albanian reformers like Salih Vuçitern work; and lastly a few other Muslims, following the exam- accordingly wanted to create an Islam compatible with ple of the young Halil Repishti of Shkodra, who went off Europe. Now, the Lahori Ahmadis were trying to propa- to study in Lahore. We may also judge that it had an indi- gate a European Islam in Western Europe, drawing even rect influence on wider Muslim circles, particularly among western intellectuals into their ranks.41 the readers of the Islamic Community’s publication. Another aspect of the Anjuman’s arguments must also Indeed, the use of texts from the Lahori Ahmadi corpus have been right on target: the ‘arsenal’ that it had been able gave a very specific profile to Albanian Islamic journals. to develop in response to Islam’s loss of prestige among As compared with the journal of the Islamic Community educated Muslims on the one hand and in response to the of Yugoslavia, for example, Zani i naltë and Kultura islame onslaughts of Christian propaganda on the other. For Salih had a much more significant cultural dimension, allotting Vuçitern and the leaders of Albanian Islam were up against less space to the religious sciences. Even so, one should these two problems. The most educated Muslims, under not overestimate this journalistic influence. The distribu- the influence of scientism and Kemalism, tended to reject tion of the Islamic Community’s journals remained limit- Islam as responsible for the backwardness of the country ed. In 1939, the number of subscribers to the journal Zani and incompatible with progress. The Bektashi Muslims, i naltë amounted to a little over two hundred, and half of being affiliated with that brotherhood of the most hetero- them lived in the Albanian capital.46 In 1941 Kultura dox and syncretistic kind, were the first to denounce Sunni islame,run by a young duo consisting of Sadik Bega and Islam as incapable of reforming itself and as an impedi- Sherif Putra, would have had 2,400 subscribers.47 ment to progress and modernity.42 As for the Christians, Proselytism of the Lahori Ahmadi variety, backed up by some had even aimed to reconvert the Albanian Muslims to written material, suited educated youth and intellectuals, the “religion of their ancestors”.43 but not the masses, still very largely unlettered in Albania at this time and supervised by a ‘clergy’ of a very poor In answer to the challenges of modernity, science, rea- standard.48 son and Europeanness, the Anjuman was offering a body of work in western languages (English and German), readily More fundamentally, if the impact of the Lahore translatable into Albanian. Albanian literature — religious Ahmadiyya Movement remained limited, it is above all and non-religious — was as yet only in its early stages. because the reformist Muslim tendency using the Ahmadi Knowledge of Arabic was relatively limited, above all on ‘arsenal’ was, in fact, very much a minority within the the part of the most reform-minded, and Turkish Islam, to Albanian Muslim population and its élite. At the time the which Albanian Islam had been tied, was in the throes of journal Drita appeared, published by the three Albanian Mustafa Kemal’s reforms. In the same way, for the students in Lahore, the publishers of Zani i naltë were advanced theological studies that the Islamic Community announcing “a new Islamic spirit”. But they foresaw that was itself unable to set up, there was the problem of choos- the publication was going to be fought against on two ing where the graduates of the Medrese should go. There fronts, by the ‘conservatives’ and by the ‘non-religious’, was no longer any possibility of going to Istanbul, the for- since it was created for the nationalists who had under- mer educational centre of the Albanian ulema under the stood that the progress of the Albanian nation would only 8 THE LIGHT ■ JULY – SEPTEMBER 2004 come about when the Muslim section of the population minds since two young Muslims from Shkodra appear to had developed to an appropriate degree.49 In fact, a signif- have taken the trouble to write to the Sheikh of al-Azhar to icant section of the Muslim élite, Bektashis and non- ask him what view to take of the Ahmadiyya movement.53 Bektashis, was more modernist than reformist, in the sense Should one also see in this critical approach a reflection of that this term has in the history of Islam in the 19th–20th the fact that the Albanian Islamic Community did not have centuries, and had difficulty seeing how (Sunni) Islam the translation of the Koran by Muhammad Ali translated could be compatible with modernity, as we have seen. into Albanian? Did those ulema capable of carrying out such a translation refuse to make use of this controversial But the reformist Muslim tendency was also in con- text? The question remains open.54 flict with conservative Muslim circles, including a large section of the ulema and minor religious functionaries The definitive obstacle seen by the Albanian (imams, muezzins). When Salih Vuçitern called for reform reformists to the propagation of Lahori Ahmadi Islam was in 1927, reactions were not slow in coming. The same the imposition of the communist regime at the end of the thing happened when the regional medrese’s were sup- Second World War. In 1945, the new authorities intercept- pressed or when the abolition of wearing the veil was ed the last parcel of books sent by the Anjuman to the decreed in 1937. The most virulent reactions came from young Ismail Muçej and advised, that is to say, enjoined Shkodra, the metropolis of northern Albania, bastion of the latter — charged by the Indians with opening an Muslim traditionalism.50 Even so, it is likely that the agency in Albania — to break off his correspondence with reformist tendency that monopolised the machinery of the Lahore. Subsequently, Albanian Islam was brought to heel, Islamic Community was out of step not only with the reli- the country was practically closed off and, in 1967, all gious folk of Shkodra, but also with those of other parts of forms of religion were forbidden there until 1991. the country. This opposition can be gauged by an announcement made by the editors of Zani i naltë in 1933. Yet Lahori Ahmadi influence continued to make itself According to them, the journal was not the mouthpiece of felt among some Albanian Muslims, not in Albania itself, the ulema, but of the Islamic Community, that is, the but in the United States. One of the main representatives of organisation representing the Muslim sector of the popula- these is Imam Vehbi Ismaili. The author of numerous tion. They added that there were no clergy in Islam and translations of articles from journals of the Lahori network that the aim of the journal was not to defend the hojas and when he was a student of the Medrese during 1936–1937, form a parasitic clique living off the general public, but to then a student at al-Azhar from 1938 onwards, Vehbi contribute to the nation’s cultural, social and economic Ismaili (or Vehbi Hoxha) is, indeed, behind numerous pub- development according to the precepts of the Koran.51 lications appearing in Albanian from the 1950’s onwards on American soil, in which elements of Lahori Ahmadi Beyond this struggle for legitimacy between thought can be directly or indirectly detected.55 And one reformists and traditionalist ulema, there could be the could follow the continuing impact of the Lahori mission- problem of the Ahmadiyya Movement’s image in the ary activity of the inter-war period down to our own time, Muslim world. Outside the country, we have seen that it because, since the fall of communism in Albania, the pub- had been possible for the Albanian Muslims’ connections lications of Vehbi Ismaili have been distributed in the with the Anjuman to turn problematic. At Cairo, in 1935, country. These include, for example, the book ‘Islam and three students had been unable to continue their journey to the Prayers’ (Islamizmi dhe lutjet), which the author says Lahore. Four years later, two others were expelled from al- he wrote under the particular inspiration of the books of Azhar and had to renounce their Ahmadi beliefs. It should Muhammad Ali and Khwaja Kamaluddin.56 be noted that these incidents did not stop the Albanian Islamic Community publishing another letter from the To return to the inter-war period, Albanian-Indian Anjuman in its periodical publication in 1940. Yet this contacts are far from having been marginal in the transfor- same publication, in 1936, had echoed a reaction from the mations of Albanian Islam. They should be placed at the Albanian Muslim community itself. A reader was heart of a process of political and religious reform driven denouncing the deviant views of Lahore’s young Albanian from the top, whose promoters, following the example of students, who, in their journal Drita, had written that Salih Vuçitern, wanted to make Albania “a European coun- 57 Joseph was the father of Jesus. And he concluded: “this try and the most advanced Muslim state”. One could see defamatory doctrine coming from the Islamic movement in a paradox in the fact that this reformist group looking for Lahore has been contradicted by all the competent schol- a western Islam turned towards the East. But that would be ars in the Muslim world. We want our students to bring us to forget that, although Indian, the Anjuman was then at the culture and not a defamatory doctrine that is against the heart of Islam’s first phases of expansion in Western Koran”.52 Already in 1933, a doubt did exist in some Europe. ■ JULY – SEPTEMBER 2004 ■ THE LIGHT 9

Bibliography 2 By ‘Islamic Community’ with a capital ‘C’ I mean here BARDHI, Ismail, 1998, Hafiz Ibrahim dalliu dhe ekzeg- the official Muslim religious institutions. jeza e tij ku’anore,Skopje, Logos-A. 3This denotes a branch of the Ahmadi movement, which DUPONT Anne Laure and MAYEUR-JAOUEN arose in the Panjab at the end of the 19th Century. Catherine, 2002, Débats intellectuels au Moyen- Shortly after the death of its founder, Mirza Ghulam Orient dans l’Entre-deux-guerres, Revue des mondes Ahmad (d. 1908), this movement split into two. The musulmans et de la Méditerranée,Aix-en-Provence, greater part of the Ahmadi faithful made up the Edisud, 95–96–97–98. Qadiani Ahmadiyya Movement, behind the son of the founder, considering Mirza Ghulam Ahmad to be a GOGAJ, Iljaz, 1999, Shkolla Teknike dhe Harri Fulci, prophet. Another group, much less significant numeri- Tirana, Eurolindja. cally and holding Mirza Ghulam Ahmad to be only a ISMAILI, Imam Vehbi, 1993, Islamizmi dhe Lutjet, reformer (mujaddid), constituted the Lahore Harper Woods, Albanian Islamic Center (3rd Ahmadiyya Movement (Smith, 1956). I shall not dis- Edition). cuss here the activity of the Qadianis, whose impact in KHULUSI, S. A., 1963, Islam — Our Choice,Woking, Albania was considerably less significant than that of The Woking Muslim Mission (2nd Edition). the Lahoris. LULI, Faik - DIZDARI, Islam - BUSHATI, Nexhmi, 4The Anjuman likewise founded a mission to Java. 1997, Në Kujtim të brezave, Shkodër (2nd Edition). 5 It should be noted that, at about the same time, the MEHDIU, Fethi, 1996, Përkthimet e Kur’anit në gjuhën Qadiani branch had also started to take an interest in shqipe, Shkup, Logos-A. the Albanian Muslims. Indeed, in the course of 1927, the head of the Albanian Legation in London, Eqrem MOROZZO DELLA ROCCA, Roberto, 1990, Nazione bey Vlora, wrote to the Grand Mufti of Albania that the e Religione in Albania (1920–1944), Bologna, Il Imam of the London Mosque, Rahim Bakhsh Dard, Mulino. intended to come to Albania in order to visit the coun- POPOVIC, Alexandre, 1973, ‘Sur une ‘nouvelle’ try, but also for the purposes of study, the Muslims of traduction du Coran en serbo-croate’, Arabica, India being interested in the Albanian Islamic XX/1, Paris, pp. 82–84. Community. The diplomat added that this man had POPOVIC, Alexandre, 1997, ‘Les medrese dans les been recommended to him and that he should therefore Balkans: des premières innovations du milieu de be accorded the appropriate hospitality, so that India XIXe siècle à nos jours’, in Nicole Grandin and should have a good impression of the Islamic Marc Gaborieau (eds.), Madrasa —La transmission Community of Albania (Arkivi Qendror i Shtetit du savoir dans le monde musulman,Paris, (Tirana) — henceforth AQSh — Fondi 882 Arguments, pp. 279–288. (Komuniteti Mysliman), viti 1927, dosja 112). I have been unable to find any trace of this visit, assuming it SCHMIDT-NEKE, Michael, 1987, Entstehung und indeed took place. Ausbau der Königsdiktatur in Albanien (1912–1939), München, Oldenbourg. 6 “Nji letër e derguem nga komunitetin mysliman të Hindit”, Zani i naltë, IV/12, July 1927, pp. 377–378 SMITH, W. Cantwell, 1956, ‘Ahmadiyya’, (the letter is accompanied by a photograph of the Encyclopédie de l’Islam, New Edition, Leyden, E. J. Berlin mosque). Brill. 7This refers to the translation into English, prepared by TAYLOR, Stephen, 1937, Who’s Who in Central and Muhammad Ali, the spiritual head of the Anjuman (d. East-Europe, 1935/1936, 2nd Edition, Zurich. 1951), and published in 1920. UZUN, Mustafa, 1994, ‘ Do≤rul, Ömer Rıza’, Türkiye 8 ‘Nje leter e Komunitetit të Hindit Vllaut Hafis Isa Diyanet Vakfı Islam Ansiklopesidi,9,s.v. Domni’, Zani i naltë,V,No. 2, December 1927, pp. VLLAMASI, Sejfi, 1995, Ballafaqime politike në 425–430. Shqipëri (1897–1942),Tirana, Marin Barleti. 9 Ibid. 1 Albania acquired independence in 1913, but was occu- pied by various powers during the First World War. 10 Luli-Dizdari-Bushati 1997, p. 667. Only in 1920 did it fully recover that independence that 11 Baron Omar Rolf von Ehrenfels (born 1901) apparent- it lost once again in 1939. ly converted to Islam at the Lahori Ahmadi mission’s 10 THE LIGHT ■ JULY – SEPTEMBER 2004

mosque in Berlin, around 1927. In the current literature Vehbi Ismail, who was kind enough to reply to my he is said to have been attracted towards Islam while queries and send me publications. staying among the Muslims of the Balkans and Turkey 20 Zani i naltë, VI/2, Tetuer 1931, p. 66. and that it was a Yugoslavian imam who had suggested to him that he get in touch with the imam of the new 21 Cf. Rregulore e Medreses së Përgjithshme të Berlin mosque, Dr S. M. Abdullah (Khulusi 1963, pp. Komunitetit Mysliman Shqiptar,Shkodër, Ora e 234–235). Shkodrës, 1931. 12 Cf. Zani i naltë, nos. 9–10, Shtatuer–Qershuer 1935, 22 Henceforth, in fact, the Medrese of Tirana constituted pp. 292–296. an exception in the Balkans, since French and German remained the only western languages taught in estab- 13 It should be noted that translations were similarly lishments of this type down to the Second World War made from other English-language Islamic periodicals, (Popovic 1997). Attention is drawn to this change of including Qadiani Ahmadi journals like Chicago’s foreign language at the Medrese of Tirana and the rea- Moslem Sunrise and The Review of Religions, or even son for it by Sherif Putra, an Albanian student at anti-Ahmadi ones like Genuine Islam from Singapore Lahore, in an article published in The Light (‘Islam in (I am very grateful to Eric Germain for providing me Albania’, The Light,vol. XIII, no. 5, 1/2/1935, p. 2). I with the publication details of these periodicals). owe my knowledge of this article to Mr Nasir Ahmad 14 For example, in issue IX/2–3 October–November of Lahore, to whom I am immensely grateful. 1933, there is an article with the title ‘Modern 23 I have listed seventeen names of students having made Chemistry and Islam’, translated by Hasan Selami, the translations. Some of them used the signature translation of correspondence between the Islamic ‘Devrani’, the pseudonym of a person whose status is Community of America and President Roosevelt, an not at present known to me. article drawn from The Light on a new mosque in London, and an article by Junus Bulej on the spiritual 24 Hasan Selami died in Cairo in 1944 (cf. Ismaili 1993, significance of fasting, according to Dr Hamid Marcus p. 169, and Kultura islame,V/11, korrik 1944, pp. of the Berlin mosque. 316–322). 15 Muhamet Ali, Një përshkrim i shkurtër i jetës së profi- 25 For example, in issue 1/4, pp. 143–146, one article had tit t’islamizmës (trans. Omer M. Sharra), Shkodër, ‘Ora been explicitly compiled from the Moslemische Revue. e Shkodrës’, 1929, 74 pp.; Muhamet Ali, Muhamedi 26 In this way there were published in serial form transla- profeti i ynë, Shkodër, ‘Ora e Shkodrës’, 1931, 247 pp.; tions of Taha Husayn’s ‘Guides to Thought’ and and Disa të vërteta morale (trans. Sh. Putra), Tirana, Muhammad Haykal’s ‘Life of Muhammad’. ‘Tirana’, 1939, 45 pp. It is possible that the booklet 27 This letter, dated 13th May 1940, was a reply to a entitled Islamizmi, published by the Islamic telegram of 27th April 1940, sent to the Anjuman by Community in 1929, is also translated from an Ahmadi Behxet Shapati, the Head of the Albanian Islamic text. I have not been able to check this. In addition, it Community, on the occasion of the anniversary of the is necessary to point out that there were, in 1935 and birth of the Prophet (cf. Kultura Islame, II/13–14, shta- 1938, two translations of works by Ömer Rıza Do≤rul, tor–tetor 1940, p. 50). a Turkish author himself steeped in Ahmadi texts, who translated the translation of the Koran prepared by 28 Luli-Dizdari-Bushati 1997, pp. 666–667. Muhammad Ali (cf. Uzun, 1994 on this individual). 29 The Head of the Albanian Islamic Community, Behxet 16 On this periodical, see below. Shapati, who was the author of numerous articles in the journal, also seems to have been familiar with Ahmadi 17 On Junus Bulej (1892–1966), originally from Shkodra, literature. cf. Luli-Dizdari-Bushati 1997, pp. 399–414. 30 According to Imam Vehbi Ismaili, Halil Junus Repishti 18 On Ymer Sharra (1901–1975), who was born in Vlora and Ejup Kraja were friends. (in South-West Albania), see Gogaj 1999, p. 54. 31 Cf. F. 882, v. 1934, d. 78, report dated 20/4/1935; F. 19 According to the United States reissue of the book 882, v. 1935, d. 2, report dated 1/5/1935; and Zani i Muhamet Ali, Një përshkrim i shkurtër i jetës së profi- naltë, XI/3, marc 1936, back cover. tit t’islamizmës,translated by Omer M. Sharra, which Imam Vehbi Ismaili has made available to me, Omer 32 Cf. for example ‘Për të gatue nji kler të ri’, Zani i naltë, Sharra was at that time Professor of English at the X/11, Nanduer 1935, pp. 348–351. Medrese of Tirana. I am immensely grateful to Imam 33 AQSh, F. 882, v. 1939, d. 52. JULY – SEPTEMBER 2004 ■ THE LIGHT 11

34 Oriente Moderno, XIX, 1939, p. 619. 44 Zani i naltë, II/4, qershor–korrik 1925, p. 487. 35 Cf. AQSh, F. 882, v. 1939, d. 95, and Oriente Moderno, 45 Some graduates of the Medrese of Tirana studied not at XX, 1940, p. 460. al-Azhar but at the University of Cairo, following the 36 Born in 1880 at Vuçitern (in Kosovo), Salih Vuçitern example of Sadik Bega, a graduate of the Faculty of had undertaken theological and secondary school edu- Arts [French, ‘la faculté des Lettres’ — Translator]. cation in Istanbul. Arriving in Albania at the time of the 46 AQSh, F. 882, v. 1939, d. 90. Balkan wars (1912–1913), he was notably Inspector of 47 AQSh, F. 882, v.1941, d. 15. Education in the Mat region in 1919 and Prefect of Dibra in 1922. In 1921, he was Director General of 48 In 1939, the editors of Kultura islame received a letter Vakfs, a post that he occupied until 1939, then once which drew attention to the discrepancy between the more from 1942 onwards. He was a Deputy from 1921 journal’s content and the reality of Islam in the to 1925 and from 1928 to 1932, and a Senator from Albanian countryside (AQSh, F. 882, v. 1939, d. 119, f. 1925 to 1928. From 1928 to 1930, he was Minister of 16–17). Public Works. During the 1930’s, he was in charge of 49 ‘Nji revistë shqipe në Lahorë’, Zani i naltë, XI/3, Mars the administration of agricultural reform. In 1938, he 1936, pp. 99–100. was president of SITA, the Electricity Society of 50 On reactions to the reform project launched by Salih Tirana. During the Italian occupation, he was interned Vuçitern in 1927, cf. Zani i naltë (year 1927), and on for two and a half years. A Zog loyalist and member of reactions to the abolition of wearing the veil in 1937, the militant movement supporting his restoration, he see Morozzo della Rocca 1990, pp. 35–36. was arrested in October 1945 by the communist authorities and died in prison four years later (cf. 51 ‘Detyra jonë’, Zani i naltë, nos. 2–3, tetuer–nanduer Taylor 1937, p. 1146; Schmidt-Neke 1987, p. 355; 1933, pp. 16–19. In the article in The Light cited in Vllamasi 1995, see Index). notes 22 and 41, Sherif Putra came out very strongly against the Mullas and ‘mullaism’. 37 ‘Deklaratë. Mbi nevojen e reformave’, Zani i naltë, IV/7, Fruer 1927, p. 196–207. 52 ‘Si u kriju Krishti?’, Zani i naltë, nos. 10–11, tetuer–nanduer 1936, p. 351. 38 The process was repeated in 1944, on the same lines (cf. Kultura islame,V/7–8, Mars–Prillë 1944, p. 204). 53 Cf. Luli-Dizdari-Bushati 1997, pp. 585–586. 39 ‘Pak fjalë rreth nji libri’, Zani i naltë, VI/2, Tetuer 54 Let us recall that, on the other hand, the translation by 1931, pp. 62–65. Muhammad Ali was translated into Turkish in 1934 (cf. supra, note 15), and that this Turkish translation 40 On this subject, see Dupont and Mayeur-Jaouen 2002. formed the basis of a translation into Serbo-Croat pub- 41 That is the way Sherif Putra, for example, was looking lished in Sarajevo in 1937 by M. Pand‰a and D‰. at it when he said: “I assure the Anjuman that though it Cˇ au§evi´c (Popovic 1973). According to Fethi Mehdiu has for the present students from one European coun- (1996, p. 99), one Shejh Jahja, son of Shejh Shefqet of try only, that is, Albania, yet within a short time it will Djakovica (Kosovo), had made a translation of the have many students from different parts of Europe, Koran into Albanian on the basis of the translation of because the European Muslims look to this Anjuman Pand‰a and Cˇ au§evi´c and that of Karabeg. But this for the spreading of Islam. They believe that if there is translation remained in manuscript. In Albania, Hafiz any body who can save Islam from these crises, it is the Ibrahim Dalliu, who applied himself to a translation- Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam, Lahore” (The commentary of the Koran in the 1930’s, used other Light, XIII, no. 5, 1/1/1935, p. 2). works. He points out, however, that he has taken “Indian Muslim scholars” as a model when he gives 42 See especially the polemic pitting Mehdi Frashëri, an the verses in transcription for those who are unfamiliar intellectual and Albanian political figure of Bektashi with the Arabic script (Bardhi 1998, p. 128). origin, against the Islamic Community (Zani i naltë, V/10–11, gusht–stator 1928, pp. 678–690 and dhetuer 55 On Vehbi and his activity, cf. Luli-Dizdari-Bushati 1928, pp. 726–734). 1997, pp. 595–624. 43 See, for example, C. T. Erickson, ‘Albania, the Key to 56 Ismaili, 1993 (see the two Prefaces). the Moslem World’, The Moslem World 1914, 4, pp. 57 According to relatives of Salih Vuçitern interviewed in 115–119, and ‘La questione religiosa in Albania’, Shkodra in June 1995. Roma e l’Oriente, VI/34/1913, pp. 199–208. 12 THE LIGHT ■ JULY – SEPTEMBER 2004

Dowie: A sign to America “John Alexander Dowie had suffered a stroke. His side was paralyzed....Prayer was offered and hope and the World (Part 2) for a complete restoration was expressed by officers to the waiting congregation - a hope that was never By Muhammad Sadiq, Columbus Ohio realized...(Lindsay, p.239). [This article completes a series of Jummah Khutbas Misfortune after misfortune dogged the steps of (sermons) given by the author. As part of his research, Alexander Dowie. Lindsay elaborates on this: Mr. Sadiq visited Zion City and was able to obtain fascinating historical documents pertaining to Dr. Dowie. It was a sad blow to Dr. Dowie when by decision of This segment continues from the Jan.-Mar. 2004 volume.] the court an election was authorized to determine who should be overseer of Zion. He retired to Shiloh The writer, Ernest Sullivan Bates, commenting on Dowie’s House a broken man, but still believing that by some fiasco in New York, tells us that the failure in New York was miracle Zion would be restored to him. This hope, Dowie’s “first check” in his meteoric rise as an evangelist. however, was never to be fulfilled. Was it just a coincidence that only 57 days before the New York debacle, Hazrat Ahmad had predicted Dowie’s A Chicago newspaper of the time carried an interest- destruction and that calamity would certainly overtake ing comment on the tragic circumstances which had befall- him? Or was this God’s Work and His Sign of Hazrat en the city: Ahmad’s truth and that Elijah III’s days were numbered? The curtain is about to fall. The star has left the After this, Dowie went on a worldwide fundraising trip stage. The prompter has closed his books; the scene- that was unsuccessful and finances in Zion City steadily shifters are shuffling in the wings; and the stage deteriorated. Then, on Sunday, September 24, 1905, Dowie manager has his finger on the bell. Only a few more preached in the Shiloh Temple. Lindsay recalls that incident: phrases that the audience could easily supply and the words’ring down’ will be given and we shall have Though he did not know it, that day was to be a fate- looked for the last time upon the tragedy of Zion ful day in the life of the man who, just one year City. before, had declared himself the First Apostle of the Christian Catholic Church. It is a city hopelessly bankrupt, facing an indebted- ness of six million dollars - a city built on sand. {Did Arthur Newcomb in his book, Dowie, Anointed of the not Jesus (SAS) warn against building one’s house Lord tells the story of what happened that afternoon: on sand?} The dream of Zion as conceived by Dowie His queer rasping voice filled the tabernacle, opening is gone forever. The vision has faded. A receiver Zion’s now elaborate and impressive ritual. This con- from the courts held the keys to the Administration summated, he began his sermon. It was magnificent. Building, the factories, the hospice, the bank. The venture into commercial enterprises, a field in which His sermon ended, the First Apostle retired. A table Dowie was an amateur, overthrew the church. for the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was prepared... Dowie, sick, suffering from hallucinations, still sat The sacrament was all but finished - only a few more in Shiloh House. The fire of ambition still burned in words remained to be spoken. his eyes, and a note of defiance in his voice. But his eyes were deeply sunken and his voice quavered in Again the people waited. disappointment (Lindsay, p. 250). Suddenly their leader shook his right hand as if some The parents of author Lindsay visited Dowie toward foul thing clung to it. He beat it upon the arm of his the end and he recounts their visit: chair. Those near him saw him sway They remember him that day as a very sick man, sit- He turned, ghastly pale, to an attending deacon who ting in a wheel chair with sunken eyes and pale hurried to his side. Dowie was half led, half borne drawn face....John Alexander grew steadily weaker away. in body, and finally was unable to speak in public even from his wheel chair. It seemed that every form Never again was he to lift his voice in Shiloh of disease had fastened itself upon his body, and his Tabernacle!’” (Lindsay, pp. 237 - 239). life strength was slowly ebbing away...Few came to see him in those days. The great disappointment that Lindsay goes on to comment: had come to the people, their shattered hopes, the JULY – SEPTEMBER 2004 ■ THE LIGHT 13

loss of investments reducing some to poverty had Even in India, details of his death were carried by created a reaction that was not healed while Dr. “The Pioneer Lukhnow (March 12, 1907), ‘The Civil Dowie lingered in his illness. Still a few were loyal and Military Gazette (March 12 1907), and the to him (Lindsay, p.250). Indian Daily Telegraph (March 12, 1907). The Boston Herald carried a detailed and documented Commenting on religious eccentrics, author Karl feature on Dowie in its issue of June 23, 1907. It Shaw writes: devoted a full page to the prophecy of Ahmad along Dowie was the absolute ruler of his people, and from with a large size portrait of him. The feature was his church pulpit. He dispensed the law … Dowie headed with two banners. They ran: was an ambitious evangelist … and he embarked on ‘GREAT IS MIRZA GHULAM AHMAD, THE an expensive and ruinous campaign to spread the MESSIAH FORETOLD PATHETIC DEATH OF word of the Apostolic Church to the rest of America. DOWIE’ He suffered a crippling stroke and with his health and financial problems mounting he turned to a close The Boston Herald ...recalled some of the observa- friend and disciple Glenn Wilbur Voliva...Voliva tions of Alexander Dowie...’In India there is a fool- studied Dowie’s accounts and found a discrepancy of ish messiah ...if I put my foot on them, I would crush about $2 million. He denounced his old friend as a out their lives.’ fraudulent polygamist, banished him from the com- The paper also quoted another direct reference made munity and established himself as the new leader … by Dowie in his journal, ‘The Leaves of Healing’ Dowie died insane two years later (Shaw, p.58). (December 12, 1903). ‘If I am not God’s Prophet, Affliction and scandal continued to follow Dowie. there is none on God’s earth.’ At another place ‘The Syed Hasanat Ahmad writes: Boston Herald’ quoted him as saying in his journal (Feb. 14, 1904), ‘I pray for the day to come when the In December {of 1905}, another attack of paralysis crescent shall disappear and may God destroy it.’ struck him down and this time he was completely crippled. But along with the physical torture, mental Mirza Ghulam Ahmad emerged victorious in this torture followed. His own wife and son disowned historic prayer-duel. It was left to an American news- him. They revealed his misdeeds. Dr. Dowie’s son paper to acknowledge this historic event. ‘The Truth got hold of letters that the modern Elijah had written Seeker’, another leading American journal, referred to a rich heiress, Miss Hofer. Startling disclosures to the clear victory of Ahmad in its issue of June 15, came to light that he was involved with several 1907. In an editorial captioned ‘The War of the women. His private rooms were found to be stocked Prophets, it said: with the choicest wines, although he denounced pub- ‘Dowie called Muhammad as king of impostors. He licly all intoxicating liquors” (Ahmad, Hasanat, pp. not only prophesied that Islam will meet its destruc- 11 and 12). tion at the hands of Zion, but he used to pray daily He goes on to write: that the crescent is wiped out from the surface of the earth. When the news of the prophecy reached the On February 20, 1907, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad issued Indian Messiah, then he challenged the Elijah and another handbill announcing the appearance of invited him in a prayer-duel that whosoever is the another heavenly sign. The handbill said: liar should die in the lifetime of the true Messiah. ‘God has informed me: I will reveal a fresh sign The Qadiyani Messiah prophesied that if Dowie which will be a great victory. This will be a sign for accepted the challenge, he would die in his the whole world...The sign will be at the Hand of (Ahmad’s) lifetime with great disgrace and adversi- God and everyone should wait for it. God will man- ty, and even if he did not accept his challenge, even ifest this sign shortly. It will be an evidence of then his end is drawing close and death will overtake Divine Help. It will be testimony of this humble him. His Zion City will meet a great fall. This indeed being who is being abused by all. Blessed is he, who was a great prophecy that Zion will fall on bad times hearkens to this sign.’ and Dowie will die in his lifetime. This was a dan- Within a fortnight of the publication of this handbill gerous assertion on the part of the Promised Messiah came the death of Alexander Dowie in the first week that he should challenge Elijah the Second in the of March. The death of Dowie within the lifetime of contest of long age, especially when the challenger Mirza Ghulam Ahmad caused a great sensation. himself is about fifteen years older than Dowie and 14 THE LIGHT ■ JULY – SEPTEMBER 2004

had many diseases. Circumstances were against 6 Cook, Philip L., “Zion City Illinois, John Alexander Ahmad, but ultimately Ahmad emerged victorious’” Dowie’s Theocracy”, Zion Historical Society, Zion, (Ahmad, Hasanat, pp.11 - 14). Illinois, 1970. Hazrat Ahmad ,clearly and decisively, against all 7 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., “Dowie, John odds, “emerged victorious” from this prayer duel with Alexander” entry in “The New Encyclopaedia John Alexander Dowie, as acknowledged by “The Truth Britannica”, 1998. Seeker” and many other American and foreign journals of the day, even in India. These were non-Ahmadi, usually 8 Khan, Sir Zafrullah, www.alislam.org/books/victory. non-Muslim publications, not biased in favor of Hazrat 9 “Leaves of Healing”, published in late 1800’s and Ahmad. Yet, this story has been forgotten and ignored by early 1900’s in Zion City, Illinois, Dowie’s official the books and encyclopedias of today. In the Zion City organ. Hall, you can get a booklet about their founder, Dowie, but nowhere is there any mention of Hazrat Ahmad or his 10 Lindsay, Gordon, “John Alexander Dowie”, 1986. momentous prayer-duel with Alexander Dowie. Today, 11 Shaw, Karl, “Oddballs and Eccentrics”, Carroll and only in Ahmadi literature can you read about this great vic- Graf Publishers, Inc., New York, 2000. tory of Hazrat Ahmad over Dr. Dowie. There are various reasons for this erasure from history of this momentous event. Basically, because many want to forget it and cover EDITOR’S NOTE:The Boston Herald article, as cited by it up. But it should not be so! Hazrat Ahmad addressed Mr. Sadiq above, featuring the prophetic triumph of Hazrat both continents - Asia and North America, in his 1903 Mirza Sahib over John Alexander Dowie and including a challenge and the whole world, in his 1907 handbill that prominently displayed, full-body picture of Hazrat Mirza prophesied: “This will be a sign for the whole world.” therein as well, has been retrieved from the Boston Public When God shows a sign to the whole world, the world Library. An image of the article is available for viewing at should pay attention because God does not show signs the muslim.org website. Other articles that followed the without an important purpose that is always beneficial to events between Hazrat Mirza and Dr. Dowie are also in the mankind. This sign of God has been buried in the pages of process of being obtained and when received, insha Allah, history. It deserves to be resurrected. ■ will also be made available for viewing via the internet. REFERENCES Note: Some of the preceding material has been obtained from Qadiyani sources. I have not hesitated to use them any more than I would hesitate to use a source because it came from non-Muslims. I thank all sources for throwing light on Hazrat Ahmad’s signs to the world. There is a hadith about knowledge being the lost camel of the believ- er and that he should seek it wherever it is found. 1 Ahmad, Bashir Mahmud, ‘Holy Quran and Commentary, Rabwah, Pakistan, 1965. 2 Ahmad, Syed Hasanat, ‘Fate of a False Prophet’, Call For Papers! Washington Fazl Mosque Publication, Washington, DC, 1985. The Light and Islamic Review welcomes submis- 3 Ali, Maulana Muhammad, ‘The Holy Quran’ (with sions of articles for publication. Preferably, articles commentary), AAIIL, Columbus, Ohio, 1995. should be between 5-10 pages long, single-spaced, in Microsoft Word format and submitted via e-mail. 4 American Council of Learned Societies, “Dictionary Authors from all faiths and denominations are wel- of American Biography, Base Set, under “John come, the subject matter of the paper, though, must Alexander Dowie”, 1928-1936. be substantively related to Islam. Please contact the 5Brasher, Brenda E., Editor, “Encyclopedia of Editorial Board for more information on Editorial Fundamentalism”, a Berkshire Reference Work, Guidelines. New York, 2001. JULY – SEPTEMBER 2004 ■ THE LIGHT 15

Truth Unveiled: a response to repeat sinners, i.e., persons who sin after their first sin. According to the principle laid down by Paul, sins repeat- the book ‘Unveiling Islam’ by ed after the first time are not forgivable and their punish- Ergun Mehmet Caner and ment is eternal damnation. Emir Fethi Caner There is no need to go far in search of an example, Mr. Sirajuddin, just consider your own situation. Mr. Compiled by Directors of AAIIL, Inc. USA Sirajuddin, originally a Muslim, first accepted the son of Mary as the son of God and was baptized into the belief of [A book under the title ‘Truth Unveiled’ is being compiled the accursed sacrifice. Then he came to Qadian and con- by the Board Members of AAIIL Inc., USA. Its Preface, verted back to Islam after affirming that he had been hasty Introduction and part of Chapter 1 have been published in in getting baptized. He began to say the Muslim prayers prior issues. This segment continues from the Apr.-Jun. and acknowledged many times before me that he now 2004 volume where Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, being understood the absurdity of the doctrine of atonement and quoted from his book ‘Four Questions Answered’, exam- considered it false. After his return from Qadian, he was ines the theory of salvation through accursed sacrifice.] again ensnared into the Christian missionaries’ trap and converted yet again to Christianity. This calls for reflection Doctrine of accursed sacrifice opens the floodgate of sin by Mr. Sirajuddin. After being baptized into Christianity, A second aspect of this doctrine is that a belief in the doc- he reneged and by words and actions acted against the trine results in forgiveness of all sins even if freedom from Christian faith. This, according to the Christian belief, is a sin is not achieved. Such a belief gives total freedom to cardinal sin and in line with the saying of Paul, this sin, wicked persons to proceed against the property, life, and having been committed for a second time, is unforgivable honor of peaceful citizens by any means they desire, such because it requires a second crucifixion. as killing, theft, false testimony and embezzlement. A sim- ple belief in the accursed sacrifice can then wash off these It could be argued that Paul was either mistaken or heinous sins against these innocent persons and enable the lied outright in curtailing the doctrine of atonement and perpetrators to enjoy their ill gotten gains. Similarly, adul- that, in fact, a belief in the accursed sacrifice nullifies all terers can keep on living in the impure state of adultery and sins. If this argument is accepted, then such a faith, which by a mere admission of belief in the accursed sacrifice save has no accountability for any kind of sin, including theft, themselves from accountability before God. It is obvious adultery, lies, murder, and embezzlement, will nurture sin- that this cannot be so. To commit these heinous crimes and fulness. It will be quite appropriate for the law enforce- then to seek refuge behind the accursed sacrifice is nothing ment agencies to require a guarantee of good behavior but the way of the wicked. It appears that even Paul began from the followers of a faith that has this belief. to suspect that this was not an appropriate belief. Hence he Since this open invitation to sinfulness must, of neces- remarked: “Knowing that Christ, having been raised from sity, be rejected, the only resort is to backtrack to the first the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over argument that a believer in the accursed sacrifice achieves Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; moral purity and deliverance from sin. However, this argu- but the life that He lives, He lives to God” (Romans 6: 9, ment has already been shown to be fallacious and was 10). The statement above suggests that the sacrifice of rebutted with the help of examples from the Christian Jesus is for the first sin and Jesus cannot be crucified a sec- scriptures about the alleged sins of Prophet David, the ond time. This statement, however, puts Paul in great diffi- grandmothers of Jesus, and the disciples of Jesus. We have culty. If it is true that the sacrifice of Jesus is only for the also mentioned news reports about the sinful ways of some first sin, then it follows, for example, that Prophet David Christian priests. In addition, all knowledgeable persons will be eternally damned. According to the Christians, he are fully aware of the depraved moral condition of the committed adultery with Uriah’s wife and kept her in his Western civilization. house, without God’s permission, to the end of his life. This lady is from the holy maternal lineage of Mary and a Despite the above reasoning, if someone, to make an grandmother several generations removed of Jesus. In argument, cites the holy life of a Christian, what is the addition, David had about a hundred wives, which accord- guarantee that the person is actually sinless? Many ing to the Christians, is not allowable. These sins were not scoundrels, embezzlers, adulterers, shameless drunkards committed just once but were repeated daily. Since the and atheists superficially lead lives of apparent purity, but accursed sacrifice is no immunity against committing sin, from within, these men are like sepulchers enclosing noth- it follows that among the Christians too there are many ing but offensive carcasses and bones. 16 THE LIGHT ■ JULY – SEPTEMBER 2004

All nations have good and bad natured persons all nations, so too is the dispensation of the internal facul- ties. Accordingly, in every nation there are good and evil It would be incorrect to assume that all individuals are nat- persons depending upon whether they have used their fac- urally inclined to goodness in some nations and to evil in ulties moderately or have been excessive or deficient in others. God ordained laws of nature to ensure dispensation their use. The credit for the level of goodness and civility of both kinds of persons in all nations. Each nation has its in a society cannot automatically be ascribed to the preva- share of ill natured, immoral, malicious and wicked per- lent religion of the community because much of it may be sons, just like it has its share of noble natured, moral, good the result of a natural dispensation. The level of civic good- character, and pious persons. There is no nation that is not ness of a community is, therefore, not a reliable test for the subjected to this law of nature, be they Hindus, Parsis, efficacy and truthfulness of a religion. A necessary and Jews, Sikhs, Buddhists or even those who belong to the so sufficient test for this purpose is that there exist in some called low castes of India. As nations progress in civiliza- perfect followers of that religion spiritual excellence tion and culture, the moral system begins to emphasize unparalleled in followers of other religions. I state with honor, knowledge and dignity. This creates the environment great emphasis that Islam alone meets this test. Islam has in which persons with basic goodness of nature are recog- propelled thousands of its adherents to that elevated spiri- nized in the community for their piety and noble character tual life where it can be claimed that the spirit of God and become role models for others. No nation is devoid of dwells in them. They accept the light of God and become such persons. Unless a natural inclination to goodness a manifestation of His splendor. Such people have been already exists in a person, a mere conversion to another reli- found among the Muslims in all centuries and their pure gion will not create it because the instinctive nature of man life is not without proof, or merely their own claim, but created by God does not change. It will have to be admitted God gives testimony to it. by all genuine seekers of truth that nature doles out a basic disposition and religion only provides a framework for the Signs of a pure life appropriate control and use of this disposition. Thus, some The Qur’an gives the signs of an extremely pious life as the persons have a greater portion of meekness and affection in performance of miracles, acceptance of prayers, communi- their disposition and others more of harshness and anger. cation with God, prophetic revelations and God’s help and The role of religion is to divert the fruits of basic goodness, assistance. Thousands of persons, throughout the history such as love, obedience, sincerity and faithfulness, which of Islam, have exhibited these signs. In this age, this hum- idolaters feel for their idols or worshippers of men feel for ble person is present to show this example. But where are their incarnate deities, to God and to make such persons such persons in Christendom who exhibit the signs of true show the same obedience to Him as had formerly been belief and pious life as stated in the Gospels? Everything is shown by them to their deities. recognized by its distinctive signs, just as a tree is recog- Effect of religion on human faculties nized by its fruits. If the claim of a pure life is merely a claim, unsubstantiated by the established signs given in the The Gospels do not delve into the issue of how religion Scriptures, then such a claim must be considered false. Do affects human faculties because the Gospels lack a scien- the Gospels not mention any signs of true and real belief? tific approach to problems. The Qu’ran, however, com- Do they not mention these signs to be the gift of the super- ments on this issue repeatedly and in great detail. It states natural? Then if the signs of a pious life are given in the that the objective of religion is not to change the natural Gospels, all Christians that claim to lead a pure life should faculties of man and to show that a wolf can be turned into be measured against these signs. Compare, if you will, a a sheep. It is outside the power of religion to do this but it holy Christian clergyman with the humblest Muslim in can and does provide guidance for the right use of faculties terms of their spirituality and acceptance of prayers. If the according to the requirements of the situation. It is also clergyman is found to have even a fraction of the heavenly within the competence of religion to advise the use of all light of the Muslim, I stand to be contradicted and con- faculties, rather than to emphasize reliance only on a par- demned. To prove this point, I have challenged the ticular sub set like mercy and forgiveness because none of Christians many times but they have not responded. I state the human faculties are inherently evil. It is only the exces- with total honesty, and with complete conviction, as God is sive or deficient use of faculties, or their misuse, which is my witness, that true faith and a genuine pious life, born bad. A person is culpable, not for the natural faculties he is from heavenly light, is not to be found in any faith except endowed with, but for their misuse. Thus, God, the Islam. This pure life that I have been granted is not mere- Supreme Dispenser, has endowed to all nations an equal ly my own claim, but is corroborated by heavenly testi- measure of natural faculties. Just as physical features like monies. Indeed, such a claim can only be verified with nose, eyes, mouth, hands and feet, are given to persons of such evidence, as there is no other way of knowing if the JULY – SEPTEMBER 2004 ■ THE LIGHT 17 claimant is a hypocrite and a dishonest person. However, Holy Prophet’s mission was to teach purity, truth and when there exist persons whose pure lives are heavenly patience corroborated, then others in the community that exhibit The Christian belief of salvation, attributed by the signs of piety would also be considered genuinely pure. Christians to Jesus, has been discussed in detail above. Because the community is an organic whole, a single cor- This naturally brings up the question whether the mission roborated example of pure life is sufficient to show that the of our Prophet (peace and the blessings of Allah be on him) community is capable of receiving pure spiritual life.7 reiterates the same method of an accursed love and sacri- On this basis, I addressed an announcement to the fice for the salvation and purification of mankind or pres- Christians to resolve this contention conclusively. If they ents some alternate way? The simple answer to this is that are genuine seekers of truth, they should have responded, Islam does not accept this grotesque method of the but they have not. I repeat the challenge again. Christians accursed sacrifice, and accursed love as a means of salva- and Muslims both lay claim to true faith and purity of life. tion. Instead, for attaining real purification, it instructs us The issue to be decided is which one of these two commu- to sacrifice our own cleansed self, after washing it in the nities possesses the true faith and pious life in the eyes of waters of sincerity and purifying it in the fire of truth and God. The faith of the other community, it follows, is made patience. Accordingly, the Quran says: up of Satanic ideas and its claim to holy life is a mere delu- sion born of spiritual blindness. I believe that the faith that “Whoever submits himself entirely to Allah and he is is corroborated by heavenly testimony and shows signs of the doer of good (to others), he has his reward from acceptance by God is the correct and chosen faith, and, his Lord, and there is no fear for such nor shall they similarly, the pure life is the one that is backed by heaven- grieve.” (2:112) ly signs. All nations of the world claim that persons of This verse implies that a person who places himself in the great piety have passed and are present among them and service of God, totally dedicates his life to Him, and is their deeds and conduct are cited in support of the claim. active in the performance of good deeds, will be rewarded However, without the objective test mentioned above, it is through his closeness with God. For such, there is neither not possible to judge the real validity of the claims. fear nor grief. Thus, God will reward and make free from Therefore, if the Christians think that belief in the redemp- fear and grief a person who performs acts of goodness and tion of Christ leads to pure faith and a pious life, then it is employs all his faculties in the way of God so that his incumbent upon them to come forward and enter a contest word, action, movement, rest and his entire life is solely with me for the acceptance of prayers and manifestation of for Allah. signs. If their lives are shown to be holy by the test of Heavenly signs, I shall be deserving of every punishment The word Islam implies righteousness and dishonor. The condition of submission (islam) referred to in the I emphatically declare that, judged by spiritual stan- above verse has also been called righteousness (istiqamah) dards, Christians lead an extremely unclean life. The Holy elsewhere in the Qur’an. For example, the Qur’an teaches God, who is the Lord of Heaven and Earth, abhors their us the prayer, “Guide us on the right (mustaqam from beliefs even as we abhor an extremely dirty and rotten car- istiqamah) path. The path of those upon whom Thou hast cass. If they think I am not correct, or that God is not with me bestowed favors”(1:5–6). This prayer beseeches the Lord in what I say, let them resolve our contention in a rational and to establish us on righteousness so that we may follow the civilized manner as stated above. I repeat that the holy life, path of those on whom the Lord bestowed reward and which descends from Heaven and illumines the heart, is not heavenly blessings. It should be noted that righteous con- to be found among the Christians. However, as I have stated duct in any situation depends upon the objective, and the before, instinctive goodness of disposition is present in some objective of man’s creation is to serve God. The righteous of them just as it is present in persons of other communities. conduct for a person, therefore, is total devotion to God in I am not, however, discussing here this instinctive goodness. accordance with the real purpose of his creation, i.e., the Persons endowed with this goodness and meekness are to be eternal submission to God. When a person, with all his fac- found to a greater or lesser extent in every community and ulties, devotes himself totally to God then, without a doubt, even those considered to be of lowly castes are not devoid of he is blessed with the reward of a pious life. When a win- this instinctive goodness. My reference here, however, is to dow is opened toward the sun, sunshine streams in through the pure spiritual life that is born out of the living word of it. Likewise, when a man turns himself totally toward God, God, descends from the heaven and is backed by Heavenly and all veils are lifted between man and God, a Divine signs. It is this life that is not to be found among Christians. spark alights on him and fills him with spiritual light and What then is the benefit of the accursed sacrifice? washes away all his internal impurities. This great change 18 THE LIGHT ■ JULY – SEPTEMBER 2004 metamorphoses him into a new man and it can be said that for a moment, is their doom. They, therefore, seek His pro- such a person leads a pious life. The place to achieve this tection so that God may continue to hold them in His love. pure life is here in this world. Allah, Glory be to Him, The second kind of istighfar is to leave a sinful state for refers to this in the Qur’anic verse: refuge in God, to implant His love in the heart and to draw pure nourishment from it, much as a tree implants itself in “And whoever is blind in this (world) he will be the ground to get its nourishment. By so doing, the repen- blind in the Hereafter, and further away from the tant person is saved from the aridity of sin and spiritual path.” (17:72). decay. Both these situations are called istighfar because This verse shows that the spiritual faculties required to see the root word ghafar from which istighfar has been God are taken from this world. Those who fail to develop derived means ‘to cover’ or ‘to suppress’. Thus, istighfar is these faculties here by confining their faith to mere stories a prayer to God, by one established in His love, asking and fables commit themselves to eternal darkness. Thus, to Him to suppress his inclination to sin, to keep him from achieve piety and real salvation, God has taught us to com- exposing his human frailties by enveloping him in His mit ourselves totally to Him and fall down sincerely before mantle of Divinity, and to bless him with a portion of His Him. We must completely shun the abomination of taking purity. However, if sin has already been committed then a created for a God even if it means getting killed, cut to istighfar is a prayer that God may cover it up and protect pieces, or getting burned, for in so doing we would certify the sinner from its evil consequences. Since God is the to the existence of the true God with our blood. It is for this source of all munificence and His Light is always available reason that God has named our religion Islam (submission) to dispel all darkness, the right path to a pious life lies in as it implies that we have surrendered ourselves to Him. stretching out the hands, from the fear of an impious life, toward this Fountain of Purity so that it may flow toward The laws of nature also testify that the way to purity us rapidly and wash us completely of all filth. and salvation taught by the Qur’an is in conformity with processes in the physical world designed to achieve simi- There is no sacrifice more pleasing to God than that lar objectives. It is common experience that plants and ani- we submit ourselves completely to Him even if it entails mals fed on a poor diet and deprived of good nutrition fall embracing death in His path. It is precisely such a sacrifice prey to disease. Nature has, therefore, provided for a pre- that God has taught us to make. Thus, in the Qur’an, He ventive system that allows wholesome things to reach them says, “You cannot attain to righteousness unless you spend while blocking the useless ones. For instance, the trees out of what you love” (3:92). This is the path to salvation have two features that keep them healthy. Firstly, they bur- that the Quran has taught us, and numerous heavenly signs row deep into the earth with their roots so that they may testify that this is, indeed, the right path. Human intellect not dry up by becoming detached from their source of also testifies to it. It follows then that an affair proven by nutrition. Secondly, they absorb water from the soil testimony must over ride a mere uncorroborated allegation. through the veins in their roots and obtain nourishment Jesus acted according to the teachings of the Qur’an, and from it. The same principle applies to man in his quest for was therefore rewarded by God. Similarly, those who lead spiritual development. Only those are successful who, with their life by the holy teachings of the Qur’an will become sincerity and constancy, establish a firm belief in God, and like Jesus. This holy -scripture is ready to make thousands by seeking His protection burrow deep into His love with into the likeness of Jesus and has already done so for mil- their roots. With sincere repentance, they incline to God lions. Most respectfully we ask the Christian priests, what and in this way absorb, through their veins, humility and spiritual progress have they made by deifying a weak and meekness, the spiritual water that dissipates the dryness of helpless man? If they can substantiate some spiritual sin and removes their weakness. progress, then certainly their teachings are worthy of con- sideration. But if they cannot, then O unfortunate worship- Two meanings of the word istighfar (protection from pers of the created! Come and see our spiritual develop- sin) in the Qur’an ment and accept Islam as your religion. Is it not fair to say Istighfar, or seeking protection from sin, strengthens the that the one who possesses Divine testimony to his holy roots of faith. The term has been used in the Qur’an in two life, has clear knowledge, and immaculate love of God is senses. One meaning is to fortify against sin by firming the the one who has the right on his side, and the one who love of God in one’s heart through a close association with relies only on fables and stories is an unfortunate impostor Him. To ask His help so that temptation to evil, which feeding on filth?” (End of quotation from “The Four rages furiously when a person is distant from God, may Questions Answered”). ■ seize to manifest itself. This is the istighfar of those who are close to God and know that separation from Him, even JULY – SEPTEMBER 2004 ■ THE LIGHT 19

Publications continued from back cover: Introduction to the Study of the Holy Quran pp. 191 By Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Its collection, arrangement and essential teachings. $4.95 Muhammad and Christ pp. 159. $4.95 The Teachings of Islam pp. 226. $4.95 Refutes Christian misinterpretation of the Quran about Jesus. Highly-acclaimed discussion of the Islamic path for the physi- cal, moral and spiritual progress of man. Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement pp. 112. “The ideas are very profound and very true.” — Count Tolstoy, Russia. Biography of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad by his close associ- ate Maulana Muhammad Ali. $2.95 Testimony of the Holy Quran pp. 103. $2.95 The Split in the Ahmadiyya Movement pp. 117. $2.95 Claim of being Promised Messiah based on the Quran. Discusses the doctrinal differences which led to the Split. Message of Peace pp. 27. $1.95 Reprint edition contains added Appendix and explanatory notes. Revised translation of lecture on establishing peace between True Conception of the Ahmadiyya Movement Hindus and Muslims in India. “In the Ahmadiyya Movement which…emphasises the spirit of Distinctive beliefs of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement which tolerance, I see a great force for the propagation of Islam…” — identify it as a Movement for Islam, and not a sect. Sir C.V. Raman, Nobel prize winner. pp. 67. $2.95

A Brief Sketch of My Life pp. 91. $2.95 Other books He describes his family history, early life, spiritual experiences, Introduction to Islam pp. 66. $4.95 claims, and work as Promised Messiah. by Dr Zahid Aziz. For younger readers and beginners. Basic The Four Questions Answered pp. 49. $1.50 Islam explained in question/answer format. A Christian’s questions about Islam answered. The Debt Forgotten pp. 159. $3.95 An Account of Exoneration pp. 224 by Mr Rahim Bakhsh. The debt owed by Muslims of the pres- ent-day to the work of the Ahmadiyya Movement. How he was exonerated of a false criminal charge brought against him by Christian missionaries, and his work of refuting Ahmadiyyat in the service of Islam pp. 149. $3.95 the wrong Christian doctrines. by Mr Nasir Ahmad Faruqui. Beliefs and work of Hazrat Mirza Victory of Islam pp. 47 Ghulam Ahmad and Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement. Describes various aspects of his Divinely-ordained mission of Qadiani violation of Ahmadiyya teachings pp. 49 the defence and advancement of Islam. Shows how the main Qadiani beliefs violate the real teachings The Will pp. 60 of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. Lays down the system of governing his Movement to take effect Dr Sir Muhammad Iqbal and the Ahmadiyya after him. With notes by Maulana Muhammad Ali. Movement, by Hafiz Sher Muhammad. pp. 44. $1.50 Need of Imam of the Age pp. 35 Martyrdom of Abdul Latif Shaheed pp. 47 Discussion of the qualities bestowed by Allah upon the ‘Imam Events of life of Sahibzada Abdul Latif of Afghanistan execut- of the Age’. ed in 1903 for being an Ahmadi. Further books by Maulana Muhammad Ali Essays on Islamic Sufi-ism pp. 23 Living Thoughts of the Prophet Muhammad Translations from writings of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and Dr Basharat Ahmad on Sufi-ism. Brief biography of the Holy Prophet, and his teachings. “ … so beautifully done by Muhammad Ali … should form part of the education of every person who aspires to know the life and career of a great historical personality” — Times of Ceylon. pp. 156. $5.95

The New World Order pp. 86. $4.95 “… makes a thorough analysis of the complicated problems of the world … examines the various solutions offered by Islam to the numerous problems of the modern world” — The Dawn, Karachi. Some of our publications World-renowned literature published by Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Islam Lahore Inc., U.S.A.

“Probably no man living has done longer or more Muhammad in World Scriptures, v. 1 pp. 412. $15.95 valuable service for the cause of Islamic revival than By Maulana Abdul Haq Vidyarthi, scholar of scriptural lan- Maulana Muhammad Ali of Lahore. His literary works, guages. Prophecies about Prophet Muhammad in the Bible, with those of the late Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din, have given with quotations in original Hebrew and Greek. HB. fame and distinction to the Ahmadiyya Movement.” — Jesus in Heaven on Earth pp. 471. $16.95 HB. $12.95 PB. Marmaduke Pickthall, translator of the Quran into By Khwaja Nazir Ahmad. Post-crucifixion journey of Jesus to English. Kashmir and identification of his tomb there.

Islam to East and West pp. 142. $4.95 By Maulana Muhammad Ali By Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din. His famous lectures delivered in The Holy Quran pp. 1418. $19.95 HB. $15.95 PB. various countries of the East and West during 1913 to 1926. Redesigned, retypeset new edition published in year 2002. The Sources of Christianity pp. 104. $4.95 Arabic text, with English translation, exhaustive commentary, comprehensive Introduction and large Index. Has since 1917 By Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din. Pagan origin of Church doctrines. influenced millions of people all over the world. Model for all pp. 65. $2.95 later translations. Thoroughly revised in 1951. Table Talk By Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din. Religion for the rational thinker. The Holy Quran: other translations. Fundamentals of the Christian Faith in the light of Above work also available in Spanish, French and Russian. the Gospels, by Maulana Sadr-ud-Din pp. 62. $2.95

The Religion of Islam pp. 617. $20.95 HB. $15.95 PB. The Crumbling of the Cross pp. 183. $7.95 Comprehensive and monumental work on the sources, princi- By Mumtaz A. Faruqui. Evidence that Jesus survived death on ples and practices of Islam. the cross and journeyed to Kashmir and India. “Such a book is greatly needed when in many Muslim countries we see persons eager for the revival of Islam, making mistakes Anecdotes from the life of Prophet Muhammad pp. 49 through lack of just this knowledge.” — By M. A. Faruqui. Life of Prophet in simple language. $2.50 Marmaduke Pickthall. History and Doctrines of the Babi Movement pp. 115 pp. 400. $10.95 HB. A Manual of Hadith By M. Muhammad Ali. Deals with the Bahai religion. $4.95 Sayings of the Holy Prophet Muhammad on practical life of a Muslim, classified by subject. Arabic text, English translation The Meaning of Surah Fatihah pp. 16. $4.95 and notes. By Fazeel Sahukhan. Illustrated, color, children’s book.

Muhammad, The Prophet pp. 200. $7.95 Al-Hamdu-li-llah pp. 18. $7.95 Researched biography of Holy Prophet. Corrects many mis- By Fazeel Sahukhan. Illustrated, color, children’s book for conceptions about his life, and answers Western criticism. under-fives to teach them ten basic Islamic phrases.

Early Caliphate pp. 214. $4.95 The Ideal Prophet pp. 212. $7.95 History of Islam under first four Caliphs. By Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din. His character and achievements. “Indeed two books (1) Muhammad The Prophet, (2) The Early pp. 49. $1.95 Caliphate, by Muhammad Ali together constitute the most com- Christ is Come plete and satisfactory history of the early Muslims hitherto com- By Mirza Masum Beg. Prophecies about Hazrat Mirza. piled in English.” — Islamic Culture, April 1935. Islam — My Only Choice pp. 36. $1.95 The Muslim Prayer Book pp. 90. $4.95 By Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din. Compares the historicity, doctrines Details of Muslim prayer, with Arabic text, transliteration and and practices of the major religions of the world. translation into English. Illustrated with photographs. List of books continued on reverse side of this page.